Reports Summarize Public Health Preparedness and Disaster Response Findings from Harbin Medical University (How Prepared Are Hospitals’ Emergency Management Capacity? Factors Influencing Efficiency of Disaster Rescue)

Politics & Government Week

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Politics & Government Week -- Investigators publish new report on Disaster Preparedness - Public Health Preparedness and Disaster Response. According to news reporting originating from Heilongjiang, People's Republic of China, by VerticalNews correspondents, research stated, "In light of government investment over the past decade, we explored the capacity for disaster response in Heilongjiang Province, identifying the factors that affect response capacity. We surveyed 1257 medical staff in 65 secondary and tertiary hospitals in Heilongjiang province to explore their perceptions of disaster management capacity using a cross-sectional multistage, stratified cluster sampling method."

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from Harbin Medical University, "All tertiary hospitals (100%) and most secondary hospitals (93%) have documented disaster management plans that are regularly reviewed. In secondary hospitals, drills were less prevalent (76.7%) but the occurrence of simulated training exercises was closer to tertiary hospitals (86.0%). We noted that 95.4% of all hospitals have leadership groups responsible for disaster preparedness capacity building, but only 10.8% have a stockpiled network of reserve supplies. Although response capacity has improved in Heilongjiang Province, vulnerabilities remain."

According to the news editors, the research concluded: "We recommend that priorities should be targeted at preparedness capacity building, in terms of reliable and relevant operational response plans, the expansion of existing response mechanisms to oversee local education and scenario training, and to ensure there is sufficient access to protective equipment and materials, either held in reserve, or alternatively by activating resilient supply chain mechanisms."

For more information on this research see: How Prepared Are Hospitals' Emergency Management Capacity? Factors Influencing Efficiency of Disaster Rescue. Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness, 2018;12(2):176-183. Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness can be contacted at: Cambridge Univ Press, 32 Avenue Of The Americas, New York, NY 10013-2473, USA.

The news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Q.H. Wu, Harbin Med Univ, Collaborat Innovat Center Social Risks Governance Hl, Subctr, Harbin, Heilongjiang, People's Republic of China. Additional authors for this research include L.J. Gao, Y. Li, D. Ding, Y.H. Hao, Y. Cui, Z. Kang, M.L. Jiao, L.B. Liang, A. Ferrier, N. Ning and H. Sun.